This invention relates to an assembling apparatus for assembling a motorcar vehicle body by welding side panels on both left and right sides to floor and roof panels constituting component parts of a motorcar vehicle body.
The applicants of this application have previously proposed an apparatus as disclosed in Japanese patent Application Sho No. 60-73186, wherein a floor panel and a roof panel are conveyed from a set station into a vehicle body assembling station ahead of the set station through a conveying member which is reciprocatable between the two stations. Side panels on both left and right sides are welded to the floor and roof panels by a pair of welding jig means disposed on the left and right sides of the assembling station.
In this apparatus the side panel, prior to being conveyed to and set on the welding jig means, is subjected to a predetermined working which can include, welding of small parts thereto, applying of a sealing agent thereto, or the like. In this regard, it has been usual, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Sho No. 50-64982, to dispose a pair of working lines for working the side panels on the respective left and right sides in parallel one with another at a proper place in the assembly plant. In this manner the side panels on the respective working lines can be moved to the respective welding jig means on the left and right sides at the vehicle body assembling station, by respective hangers or the like.
It can be considered, that in the foregoing apparatus, a transfer line is provided for working on a floor panel. This transfer line extends rearwards from the set station so that the floor panel worked on while passing along the transfer line may be charged directly into the set station. Thus a linear main line results extending from the transfer line to the vehicle body assembling line. It is, however, desirable, in this case to dispose the working line for the side panels along the main line with an aim at making an efficient use of space on the floor of the assembly plant. Also, it is desirable to shorten the conveying distance from the working line to the welding jig means with an aim at decreasing equipment cost.